NCAA's Point: Grades Count

A new batch of academic rules passed by the NCAA last week could make it easier for student athletes with solid grade point averages to gain initial eligibility.

The Division I Board of Directors voted to modify its standardized test requirements as part of a package of reforms designed to improve graduation rates among athletes.

The new rules extend the old sliding scale for SAT scores, which previously lumped all students with a 2.5 GPA or better into the same category. For example, a student with a 3.0 GPA was required to score at least an 820 on the SAT, just like a student with a 2.5.

Under the new system, the minimum score for a student with a 3.0 has been lowered to 620. Someone with a 2.6 GPA would need a 780. A student with a 3.5 could qualify with a 400, the lowest score possible on the SAT.

The scale remains the same for students with a GPA under 2.5. A student with a 2.0 still needs a 1010 on the SAT. The ACT is similarly affected.

Marcus Williams, a 6-foot-3 guard who made an oral commitment to UConn in August, may have gained initial eligibility after the changes. In his first SAT attempt, it is believed that Williams narrowly missed the 820 score needed to secure eligibility under the old NCAA guidelines.

But using the new standards, Williams' SAT score was well above the minimum score necessary for a student with his GPA -- which he has said is above 3.0. As long as he maintains his core grade point average and meets other academic requirements, he will be eligible next season.

Williams is not alone. Hundreds of athletes across the nation are affected.

Basically, students with C-plus averages benefit from the changes as long as they meet other academic requirements. Those other rules include an increase -- from 13 to 14 -- in required core courses.

Core courses include English (four years), math (two-year minimum), natural or physical sciences (two-year minimum), social sciences and areas of study such as foreign languages, philosophy and religion.

Until 2005, a student can choose which guidelines -- old or new -- he or she will follow. This provision allows a student who has planned his academic career around the 13-core course minimum to qualify using the old guidelines.

The NCAA said it made the changes to minimize the impact of standardized test scores, which some educators have criticized as culturally biased. Critics have also said the old eligibility rules place too much emphasis on one test and not enough on day-to-day classroom work.

``What impressed this board are two points,'' chairman Robert Hemenway, the University of Kansas chancellor, said last week. "One, [the proposals] are informed by the best research we've ever had, and two, they fit together as a package to increase academic standards and progress toward a degree.''